Kolkata: The Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Firhad Hakim has turned down the request of councillors to increase salaries, citing austerity measures in the wake of a fund crunch.
The councillor Santosh Pathak on Saturday said that when the salaries of MLAs were increased through a Bill passed in the Assembly recently, are there chances of any increase of salaries of councillors? He also enquired whether there are any provisions of pension or medical insurance for former councillors just in the way these are enjoyed by former MLAs.
Replying to the query, Mayor Firhad Hakim said that in 2019 the salaries of councillors were increased from Rs 4000 to Rs 10000. But presently, any hike is impossible due to the dire financial condition of the civic body. Hakim said: “On 03/07/2019 the salary of councillors was Rs 4000. We had increased it to Rs 10000. I would like to request all to have some patience till the financial condition of the KMC improves. We have been able to come out of the financial distress to a certain extent but we need to completely recover from it. I know that Rs 10000 is nothing in today’s time. Let us first clear the dues of our employees and then we would think about a raise for salary.”
The Mayor, however, clarified that there was never any provisions of pension or medical insurance for former councillors.
The Bengal Legislative Assembly (Members Emoluments) (Amendment) Bill 2023 was recently passed to increase the salary of MLAs and ministers by Rs 40,000 a month. The MLAs used to get 10,000, ministers of state Rs 10,900 and ministers in-charge Rs 11,000, earlier. Now, they will get Rs 50,000, Rs 50,900 and Rs 51,000 per month.